The scientists enrolled 840 participants for the study from five dietary categories: vegans, lacto-ovo vegetarians (people who consume no meat, but dairy and egg), pesco-vegetarians (fish but no other meats), semi-vegetarians (flexitarians) and non-vegetarians.

Their findings

Testing for a range of biomarkers, the scientists took and analysed samples of urine, plasma and fatty tissue from participants.

As expected, the vegan group had the highest levels of bioactive marks that prevent disease

Medicalnewstoday.com

They also discovered that vegans had the highest levels of omega-3 and the lowest levels of fatty acids.

Lead sudy author, Fayth Miles, Ph.D, reported that the “results for semi-vegetarians look very similar to (those of) non-vegetarians”. We assume this means that health-wise you are better to go fully vegan than just ‘cutting down’ on meat consumption.

Other factors

This study was looking only at biomarkers in the subjects, but many other factors can attribute as to why a plant-based diet is healthier.

Not consuming red or processed meat is one factor that holds a lot of weight as it has been linked to “probably” causing cancer.

But also that vegans may be more conscious of what they eat and consume more nutrient dense food such as plant-based wholefoods.

The scientific team behind the study also recognised that vegans have “typically higher levels of compounds with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity”, which protect against cell damage and chronic disease (medicalnewstoday.com).

(All facts in this article are summarised from the study itself or from medicalnewstoday.com article. They do not express Vegan Food UK’s opinion – as much as we would like to haha)